TeraByte Unlimited

Best way to install Windows from same hard drive

Best way to install Windows from same hard drive

Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2012 6:02 am

by gggirlgeek

Hello,

I am trying out Bootit-BM and am really enjoying it' s features and flexibility. Thank you! I am experimenting with a few installations/configurations and have some questions so I will post them separately.

Once I have installed BootIT on my hard drive, what is the easiest way to install Windows (any version) from a partition on the same drive? I am using Grub4dos on that partition as a multi-boot loader so that I can change things up quickly, without reformatting a USB drive each time. I will use Grub terms to describe the layout: I am NOT LIMITING PARTITIONS, and I am on a Netbook with no CD drive, and only 1 USB stick.

So, of course, when I install any version of Windows it analyses the current setup and puts the boot files (such as bootmgr and ntldr) on the partition where it found the current boot files. Since I cannot hide or "clear" GRUB_Multi during the installation, Windows puts the new bootmgr/ntldr there and overwrites that PBR.

It should be on hd0,4: "XP 64bit" (in this example.)

When I go back into Bootit, after Reactivating, it hasn't sensed any changes, and I can't figure out AN EASY WAY to give it the info. (Yes, I manually booted to Win7, unhid XP, moved the files, changed XP's MBR to Bootmgr (with BootICE externally,) added XP's Ntldr PBR, changed boot.ini, added the BCD entry, then added the Boot Editor entry in Bootit. (*Seriously, I'm out of breath!*)

When I put GRUB_Multi on a USB stick and installed from there, Windows XP did not try to overwrite its MBR or put the boot files on it. It isolated itself to the XP partition as I want it to all the time. BECAUSE ALL OTHER PARTITIONS WERE "cleared." But then I lose my USB recovery driver (as well as it's other uses.)

Is there something obvious I'm missing? Can I "hide" but still access Grub on hd0 somehow?

Thanks in advance!

Re: Best way to install Windows from same hard drive

Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2012 7:51 am

by TeraByte Support

Follow the instructions in the video at
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/howto/ for installing W7 to its own
partition. (the process is the same for all the various versions). The
version to watch out for is W2K, as that will most likely corrupt your drive
if any partition in the MBR is located above 128GiB.

"gggirlgeek" wrote in message news:3130@public.bootitbm...

Hello,

I am trying out Bootit-BM and am really enjoying it' s features and
flexibility. Thank you! I am experimenting with a few
installations/configurations and have some questions so I will post them
separately.

Once I have installed BootIT on my hard drive, what is the easiest way to
install Windows (any version) from a partition on the same drive? I am
using Grub4dos on that partition as a multi-boot loader so that I can change
things up quickly, without reformatting a USB drive each time. I will use
Grub terms to describe the layout: I am NOT LIMITING PARTITIONS, and I am
on a Netbook with no CD drive, and only 1 USB stick.

So, of course, when I install any version of Windows it analyses the current
setup and puts the boot files (such as bootmgr and ntldr) on the partition
where it found the current boot files. Since I cannot hide or "clear"
GRUB_Multi during the installation, Windows puts the new bootmgr/ntldr there
and overwrites that PBR.

It should be on hd0,4: "XP 64bit" (in this example.)

When I go back into Bootit, after Reactivating, it hasn't sensed any
changes, and I can't figure out AN EASY WAY to give it the info. (Yes, I
manually booted to Win7, unhid XP, moved the files, changed XP's MBR to
Bootmgr (with BootICE externally,) added XP's Ntldr PBR, changed boot.ini,
added the BCD entry, then added the Boot Editor entry in Bootit.
(*Seriously, I'm out of breath!*)

When I put GRUB_Multi on a USB stick and installed from there, Windows XP
did not try to overwrite its MBR or put the boot files on it. It isolated
itself to the XP partition as I want it to all the time. BECAUSE ALL OTHER
PARTITIONS WERE "cleared." But then I lose my USB recovery driver (as well
as it's other uses.)

Is there something obvious I'm missing? Can I "hide" but still access Grub
on hd0 somehow?

Thanks in advance!

Re: Best way to install Windows from same hard drive

Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2012 1:10 pm

by Bob Coleman

Maybe I'm missing something here, but if BIBM is being used and if all OSs are Windows, why is Grub being used? Wouldn't it be simpler and involve less unnecessary things to get rid of Grub and configure BIBM to boot the various Windows partitions?

I admittedly know almost nothing about Grub except that I think it's Linux related, but I know I've never used it to boot Windows partitions via BIBM or its predecessor BING.